Praying in the New Year

A new year is just around the corner. Where did the old one go? Life seems to move more quickly than ever. We are so grateful for our partnership with you through each turn, and for the confidence we have of walking this journey together as the new year unfolds. We want to invite you to join us in a couple of ventures as we say goodbye to 2018 and hello to 2019.

“Praying In” the New Year

The Mission Arlington® family has a tradition for New Year’s eve. After a full day of receiving donations from one of the most generous communities we know about, we finish about 6 p.m., an hour earlier than normal. At 7:00, we gather to worship and pray. We sing the songs of our heart for fifteen minutes or so, and then we pray silently. We don’t have a long devotional or a message. We simply pray. The service is open-ended, so that people leave when they are finished praying. The room empties over time, and we quietly finish the new year together. We don’t stay up late, because we will be back in the office early on January 1st, ready to serve and to help.

We would be honored if you would join us on New Year’s Eve, but even if you can’t be with us physically, we invite you to stop wherever you are to pray for God to be honored through our work, and for people to receive the care they need as we go throughout 2019.

Praying “in the New Year”

We also invite you to pray with us and for the work each day of 2019. Strategies and hard work are important, of course, and it is important to do what we do as best we can. But if that is all we do, then our work won’t have the impact it should, because it will be dependent upon our own strength and resources.

With all of our hearts, we believe that our work is fueled by prayer. Mission Arlington belongs to the Lord. The following paragraph describes the Spirit of our work well:

Mission Arlington® belongs to God. This isn’t our story, but His. He had plans in place for this Ministry and for all who work here long before it happened. He started this mission, sustains us moment by moment, and He holds our future in His hands.

As we talk about who we are it is with sincere humility, a sense of dependency and a commitment to the leadership of His Spirit within us.

You can pray for us “in the New Year” anyway that works best for you. For one possible pattern, we suggest that people stop whereever they are at 10:00 every morning – a pause – to pray for God’s work here. In this way, we can symbolically hold hands across our community, and indeed, around the world, to pray for the Mission.

We provide suggestions about ways to pray which you can receive by joining our prayer network. You can find instructions here.

We are grateful for you.

Thank you so much for walking this journey with us. We love you, and we love serving in and with this community to care for people in need. We do pray for you as you let us know your needs. We are grateful for you, and we are excited about walking together through the months ahead.